I'm in Taiwan and was here for a whole pandemic. Article is spot on but this response efficiency, visible now, was acquired over last 2 years of improvements.

Taiwan had a luxury of foresight due to earlier experience with SARS, back channel information on virus developments in China thanks to proximity and countless business contacts and a favorable geographical location. Being an island it was very easy to isolate itself from the rest of the world. This may not have been possible for other countries.

Zero COVID was a goal when efficiency of vaccines was still believed to be able to prevent transmission. Omicron appearance put an end to that.

Taiwan's response was competent but there were several hickups: Taiwan was late to acquire vaccines due to their reliance on border closures. Delta variant sneaked through border controls due to lax airline stuff quarantine rules and some rule breaches (pilot going AWOL). There was cross resident infection in quarantine hotels due airborne transmission (red elevator) There were many overreactions: closed off outdoor parks, beaches and hiking routes despite evidence that outdoor transmission is very unlikely.

Overall, solid B+ performance.

Regarding more deadly variants: we can hope that evolutionary pressure we put on virus by isolating serious cases will not allow it.

I hope Taiwan and rest of the world will learn from this experience so we are ready for a next outbreak (bird flu likely)